The Afterburn
by Yudoku Renge
Summary: Rated M for future chapters Hikaru and the Host Club are in the same place for separate reasons. Kyouya and Kaoru are left behind and Kaoru's gone into depression without his twin! Can Kyouya offer comfort? Obvious disclaimer


Author's Note: Uh, hey guys! I'm not new here; my other account got deleted somehow inactive for like, ever But I can't even remember what my old Pen Name was ;; Yudoku… or Marilalu… something along those lines. ; Anyway! I'm back and this time I'm partnered up with muh friend Rena! Er… as for my new choice of pen name, I have a small liking for otakus n.n;;;;;

SO! On to the story, ne? It's my first Ouran ficlet because I only just got into the anime… and the manga (thanks to Rena!)! But I hope it suits everyone's fancy.

It's rated MA for future chapters and references that I make… just to be on the safe side. Started out as a crackfic, then it took a turn with many twists and shockers to make me a very happy person. 3 Reviews – good and bad – are completely welcome, by the way.

"blah" denotes dialogue

'blah' denotes inner thoughts

--- blah ---denotes minor scene change... or something like it.

On with it!

The Afterburn

The elder Hitachiin twin was sitting on the front porch, MP3 player blaring into his ears as he nodded along to the beat, when his eyes caught sight of the mailman coming to their box. He stood, figuring he might as well get the mail since he was there; he pulled the headphones off of his head and let them hang around his neck as he hopped across the road and opened up the box.

"Eh?" Hikaru bent over and blinked his wide, golden eyes as they lay upon a post card. YOU WIN was emblazoned in big, bold letters, and it was addressed to Hikaru himself. He shrugged and plucked the post card out of the mess of envelopes, leaving those for his parents to pick up later.

He turned around and started to head back to the front porch, his lips pursed lightly as he read the back of the post card:

"Congratulations! You won! This card is a round trip ticket for ONE to Nassau, the pirate-ruled island in the Bahamas! Your plane leaves Friday, July 15!"

A slim brow rose as he tried to figure out how on earth he had won that stupid contest that was surely rigged to make sure no one at all won – he shrugged, grinning as he took in the news that he was going to the Bahamas for the weekend.

"Kaoru!" He opened the front door to their large house and called out; as soon as his voice left his throat Kaoru was poking his head out of the kitchen.

"What's up, bro?" Kaoru asked, his eyes blinking with curiosity as he wiped his hands on the dish towel he was holding.

"I'm going to the Bahamas on Friday for the weekend," Hikaru said, his grin bright as he held out the post card for Kaoru to read.

At first, Kaoru's eyes scanned the post card a bit incredulously. Then, all at once, it hit him. His eyes widened, his jaw going a bit slack as he raised his golden orbs to meet identical ones, "…eh?"

Hikaru chuckled lightly and rubbed the back of his head, "I won that stupid contest Kyouya entered me in."

"…"

"Uh," Hikaru's eyes shifted around for a few seconds, and he opened his mouth to speak – Kaoru cut him off.

"Have fun." Were the only words that left the younger twin's mouth before he locked himself up in his room.

---Host Club is Now Open---

Tamaki, in all his glory, was flourishing his hands about as he spoke in an exaggerated manner, a spotlight shining on the blond from… somewhere above.

"Mommy has informed me that Haruhi's father is going out of town for" he paused in his motions, thinking, blinking rapidly before picking up his pace again. "an Okama convention… thingy… so! We can't leave our precious Haru-chan by herself! Therefore, Honey-kun has graciously invited the club to his summer house in Nassau on Friday!"

Haruhi gave Tamaki a blank stare and raised her hand a bit, "I don't have a passport."

Kyouya, after adjusting his glasses, held up a little blue book and opened it, revealing a picture of Haruhi and all her needed information. She balked, blinked, and pointed accusingly at him.

"How did you"

"I have my ways," Kyouya interjected before she could say anything. "I have arranged everything. Friday the 15th you all leave." His dark eyes glanced over to Kaoru, who was sitting on the couch next to Hikaru with his knees drawn to his chest, his expression for once not mirroring his brother's. The "mother" decided not to say anything, and then announced the meetings adjourn.

---At the Airport---

Inside the terminal, Kyouya had seen off the club, as well as Hikaru. Kaoru was still at the gate, staring longingly up at the sky with his hands pressed against the glass, his nose squished against it, and his breathing fogging up the window. Now, the youngest Ohtori was sitting inside the fast food joint – Wacmajunior's – munching on a few fries and sipping on a shake.

"Master Kyouya, the planes are out of sight." Tad, Kyouya's limo driver, spoke low and professionally.

"Right," Kyouya stood and handed a packet of "Muy caliente jumbo sauce – magnum size" to Tad, who placed it in his breast pocket. "Let's go."

Kaoru's nose picked up a familiar scent – 'Cologne by Abercrombie & Fitch… Hikaru?' – and he closed his eyes as he turned to the wonderful smell. He followed it blindly, smiling happily – in mere seconds he had bumped into something warm and hard and fell flat on his rear.

"Itai!" He went into a pout automatically, bringing himself to his knees as he rubbed his rear tenderly. Kaoru's golden orbs lifted up to meet a pair of spectacles glinting slightly with the light; "Kyouya?"

"Hm?" Kyouya's eyes were finally revealed when the light stopped reflecting off of his glasses, and he held out a hand for Kaoru to take. He pulled the embarrassed twin to his feet, and when Kaoru opened his mouth to say something, he was promptly silenced by a citrus lollipop being inserted between his lips.

Kaoru blinked, but kept the delicious sucker in his mouth anyway. He turned, pressing his forehead against the glass once again; Kyouya adjusted his glasses, and then put his hands in the pockets of his black jeans.

"Kaoru. He'll be back on Monday."

"All by myseelf… don't wanna be, all by myself… anymore…" Kaoru's voice hitched, his throat constricted, and he forced the words out into musical sobs.

The Ohtori boy shook his head and sighed, placing a hand on Kaoru's shoulder, "Don't cry when you sing. It strangles your beautiful voice. You have to loosen your chords – like this." Kyouya then proceeded to sing the song Kaoru had just mutilated, and Kaoru's eyes widened in disbelief at the other boy's innate singing ability.

"K-Kyouya…"

Kyouya coughed, "Anyway. What were you doing here?"

"Watching Hikaru's plane off," the younger twin sighed as he spoke dejectedly.

"You didn't go with the club?" Kyouya raised a brow.

"You didn't," Kaoru shot back, glaring slightly.

Kyouya said nothing, and merely adjusted his glasses. Then, "True. But what are you still doing here? Your limo's been gone for quite some time."

"I was going to sleep here until Hikaru came back." Kaoru sat down on one of the chairs by the window, a dark cloud over his head as he sprawled his legs out on the couple of chairs next to him.

"For four days?"

"…"

"…"

"Can I bum a ride?"

"Yeah, this way."

As they exited the terminal and finally got out into the fresh air, Kaoru finally asked the question he'd been biting his nails to get out.

"So, why aren't you going?"

A couple of hairs stuck out from Kyouya's perfectly combed dark mane, and his glasses glazed over with the sunlight as his lip twitched.

/FLASHBACK/

Tamaki burst in through the doors of the music room, his arms full of shopping bags. He whirled over to where Haruhi was seated, tossing the bags onto the table.

"Haruhiiiii lookit!" The blond reached into the bag and pulled out an extremely froofy, pink dress, his eyes glazing over as a little fantasy of Haruhi wearing it played out in his mind.

"…" The look on Haruhi's face was neutral, if not a bit weirded out.

"Aren't they pretty?" Tamaki gushed, rubbing his face into the ruffles and inhaling deeply, "You can make daddy so proud!" He pulled out the portrait of Haruhi that he had enlarged quite some time ago; only he managed to photoshop™ in a couple of ruffles and some make up.

Haruhi looked away, her shoulders slumping slightly, "Obnoxious."

Tamaki paused in his gushings for a split second, before he quickly retreated into a nearby corner, snowflakes falling onto him as a single bell chimed.

/END FLASHBACK/

"There's no need for four thousand dollars worth of clothes to sit around doing nothing. So I'm working on refunding them and collecting our lost money," Kyouya said, his voice a bit edgy.

"Oh," Kaoru looked down at the ground, letting out another sigh (which he seemed to be doing quite frequently).

"And I assume you were going to spend the next four days locked up in your room, wearing Hikaru's shirt, in his bed, doing nothing but singing "All by myself" and crying."

Kaoru glanced up, his eyes widening in surprise; "How…?"

The Ohtori boy adjusted his glasses slightly, "I have my ways."

"You have your "ways" with nearly everything."

Again, Kyouya adjusted his glasses as they glinted briefly. "Nearly."

Tad pulled up with the limo and the boys got in; Kaoru made himself comfortable next to the far window, still sucking on the lollipop Kyouya had given him.

"So," the redhead said, "I'm going to assume your "ways" knew that citrus was my and Hikaru's favorite flavor?"

Kyouya was silent for a moment, "Something like that."

"Ah," Kaoru said, sucking on the pop obliviously.

"…" Kyouya crossed his legs and leaned back a bit, his hands clasped over his knees as he regarded the younger twin, "Instead of being alone all weekend, why don't you stay with me."

Kaoru blinked, then stuttered. He'd never been to the other boy's house before, and now Kyouya was offering him to actually stay there? "W-with you?"

Kyouya blinked, then shifted so his eyes were obscured by the sun in his glasses; "It would be bad for your health to stay cooped up. Think of your duties to the Host club and about how worried Hikaru would be. Not to mention, if your health is down, your performance goes down as well."

Kaoru blinked.

Kyouya adjusted his glasses.

"That makes sense, Kyouya-senpai," Kaoru said with a slight giggle, placing his hand on Kyouya's thigh unconsciously as he spoke.

The Ohtori boy plucked Kaoru's hand from his leg delicately, "Don't be so proper. We're friends."

"Right," Kaoru nodded and saluted Kyouya, then snickered, "Kyo-chan."

Kyouya glared and leaned in dangerously close, pulling the sucker out of Kaoru's mouth: "Don't get too familiar."

Kaoru nodded, "Mmmkay."

"…"

Kaoru grinned, "So it'll be like a sleepover! We can exchange manly stories – oh! And in the morning? I'm makin' waffles!"

"No sugar," Kyouya stated firmly, pulling out his clipboard to make a few notes on it, "or Disney movies for you tonight."

The redhead tilted his head a bit, eyes blinking confusedly.

"Do you need anything from your place?" Kyouya said, with a snap of him closing his clipboard book.

"No," Kaoru pouted slightly, "I don't wanna go home."

Kyouya sighed and took his glasses off, rubbing the bridge of his nose before replacing his spectacles, "I'm a bit taller than you, so I don't know how my pajamas will"

"It's okay, I sleep naked."

"…"

"…"

"…?"

"… "

Kyouya coughed, and looked away. "Yes. Well then."

In the Ohtori Estate

Kaoru glanced around the entrance with a look of awe on his face, sparkles surrounding his head; "Wow, I think your place is bigger than ours!"

"Hn," Kyouya said, bypassing Kaoru's comment. "My room is this way. My staff knows better than to disturb me when I have company, so don't expect to be seeing anyone."

"But," Kaoru tilted his head as they walked, "This is spur of the moment, so they won't know I'm here, will they?"

"Ah," Kyouya's glasses glinted, "trust me. They'll know."

"So," Kaoru looked off to the side to admire the paintings on the wall, "you have company often, then?"

"Not too often."

"What about our Lord?"

Kyouya's eyebrow twitched slightly, "He invites himself over. I have no say in it."

Kaoru grinned with the opacity of the plotting twin he was as he nudged Kyouya's side with his elbow repeatedly. "Betcha you two live up to your Mommy and Daddy reputations, right?"

After a few moments of silence, their gait paused, Kyouya placed his hand on the handle of a nearby door.

"No." He said firmly, opening the door. "This is my room"

Kaoru whizzed past him and jumped onto the huge bed, the sheets and pillows being knocked in disarray as Kaoru giggled and crossed his legs. "Whoo! Comfy!"

"…Hn." Kyouya said, stepping further into the room and taking off his shoes. He pulled off his shirt and noticed the Kaoru was already pulling off his boxers; he glanced away and then pulled down his own pants, reaching into a drawer to grab a pair of pajama pants.

Kyouya got to the edge of the bed and sat down, the just-barely moonlight washing over him and Kaoru, making them both look even more pale than they actually were.

"Come, let us have pillow talk!" Kaoru said, patting the space next to him.

"You do realize it's only eight o' clock, right?" Kyouya said, pulling back the covers to get in next to Kaoru. He left about two feet of space between them; of course the twin ruined his plan by wrapping his arms around Kyouya's slim waist and pulling him closer.

"Yeah. I like going to bed as the sun sets," the twin informed him as he nuzzled against Kyouya's chest.

The dark haired boy noticed the tremor that ran through Kaoru, as if the boy were resisting tears and maybe a sob. Kyouya took off his glasses with his free hand as he rounded the other around Kaoru's waist, holding him close; after setting his glasses on the bedside table, he sighed.

"You must really miss Hikaru, eh?"

Kaoru said nothing, but nodded and nuzzled further into Kyouya's chest.

"Hard to function without him?"

"Impossible."

"Would there ever be someone to fill his spot?"

"…Honey's snuggly," Kaoru said, with a giggle.

Kyouya's face blanked, and he raised an eyebrow.

"But, seriously? I don't think there is anyone that could fill in for Hikaru." Kaoru let out a sigh for the umpteenth time that night, his grip around Kyouya's waist lightening a bit.

"Which means there's no room for a significant other?"

Kaoru balked; gods, Kyouya was blunt sometimes! "W-what makes you say that?"

"It's obvious that you depend on Hikaru like he is your life support, and that it would be mentally unhealthy for you to be separated from him, and now that he's on this trip I'm a bit worried about your performance."

Kaoru raised his head off of Kyouya's chest and blinked, and Kyouya blinked in return, an eyebrow rising as well.

"You…" Kaoru's voice was full of awe, "spoke so many words... unrelated to profit…"

"...Hn." Kyouya said, closing his eyes and relaxing against the pillow. "Get some sleep."

"Kyouya…?" Kaoru asked, his voice a bit small.

The other responded by pulling away from Kaoru's grip and rolling over, giving a gruff "Mou?" in response.

"Why… are you so interested in my and Hikaru's relationship?"

"Everyone is, Kaoru. You just fail to realize it." Kyouya said, his eyes still closed.

Kaoru huffed lightly, "I notice things!"

Kyouya let out a chuckle, "No, there's quite a few things you're missing."

Kaoru blinked, and in the silence some crickets outside could be heard chirping. The redhead broke the silence soon enough:

"Wanna have sex?"

Kyouya's eyes widened and he rolled over, expression aghast – only to see Kaoru peacefully asleep, breathing deeply and evenly.

As Kyouya rolled over, he closed his eyes as he made a note on his mental clipboard: "Definitely oblivious."


End file.
